


EIGHTEEN: TIME LOOP

by roswyrm



Series: AND REMEMBER! BAD THINGS: WILL HAPPEN [8]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: CLICKED THE WRONG TAG FOLKS IGNORE MY PREVIOUS TAGS, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Spoilers, Time Loop, other characters show up but those are the main two, s4 spoilers so be careful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 12:06:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20796365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roswyrm/pseuds/roswyrm
Summary: Written for Zoraine and the Bad Things Happen Bingo!





	EIGHTEEN: TIME LOOP

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zoraine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoraine/gifts).

> me: im not gonna write anything too sad about rqg wilde because im already really sad about actual wilde  
me, after the first fucking sentence: OH GODDAMNIT THIS IS GONNA HURT ISNT IT
> 
> and then it did.
> 
> you're welcome.

They’re having lunch outside the entrance to the tunnels, right on the edge of the glassed factory, and Wilde is being smugger than usual. When she stands up to go down with them, Wilde calls, “Be careful down there.” She cocks her head at him.

“I’m always careful,” she says.

“I just don’t want to lose you.”

Sasha squints at him. “S’almost like you care,” she jokes, and Wilde rolls his eyes.

* * *

“No,” says Wilde simply, and Grizzop can feel his nails beginning to bite into his hands.

He doesn’t bother to keep himself level as he demands, “What do you mean, _‘no’?_ The rest of the party is in Rome, I need to make sure they’re alright!”

“Grizzop,” starts Wilde, but Grizzop is already out the door. He doesn’t have _time._

* * *

“No,” says Wilde almost like it’s rehearsed, and Grizzop can feel his nails beginning to bite into his hands.

He doesn’t bother to keep himself level as he demands, “What do you mean, _‘no’?_ The rest of the party is in Rome, I need to—”

“How much do you believe in fate?” Wilde asks, and maybe it’s the way his ribcage is visible through his skin, maybe it’s the way his collarbone seems almost to protrude from the rest of him, maybe it’s the dark shadows under his eyes, maybe it’s the shape of his skull made obvious by the shorn brown hair, but Grizzop doesn’t snap something irritated at him. He just raises his eyebrows, and Wilde sighs. “I’ve lived this before, Grizzop. You don’t come back.”

* * *

“No,” says Wilde, an edge of pleading in his voice, and Grizzop can feel his nails beginning to bite into his hands.

He doesn’t bother to keep himself level as he demands, “What do you mean, _‘no’?_ The—”__

“Rest of the party is in Rome, you need to make sure they’re alright,” Wilde finishes with him, and Grizzop blinks. 

Wilde is an echo under his voice as he says, “How did you know what I was going to say?” A beat. Grizzop shouts, “Stop that!” but Wilde says it alongside him once more, seeming only wearier when Grizzop sticks a threatening finger up at him.

He threatens, “If this is some divination trick just to be annoying, I’ll shoot your knees off, no matter how helpless you are right now.”

Wilde looks at him, and he seems about to cry. “I just don’t want to go two years without ever seeing you again. Sue me.”

* * *

“You can’t go to Rome, you’ll _die,”_ hisses Wilde, and there are tears in his eyes that make Grizzop take a step back.

“Wilde—”

“No, this isn’t up for negotiation, I’ve lived the past two years over and over and _over_ again, and every time you go, _you don’t come back.”_

“They took my friend!”

“The others will rescue them,” Wilde says, but it’s pleading, “they always do, you just– you can wait for them here. With me and Zolf– you don’t know him yet, but I ask for him to come back and work with me and he does, always, and– it takes time, and it varies, but it’s usually a year and a half from now—”

“You’re not making sense,” Grizzop snaps. Wilde flinches back, and they both take a steadying breath. Grizzop looks him in the eyes and says, “I’m going to Rome. We’ll talk this through when I come back, because _I am coming back,_ do you understand me?”

* * *

“What do you think?” Wilde asks, and his face is flat.

“Why are you doing this?” Azu counters, and she is angry and scared and the world has been pulled out from under her feet too many times.

* * *

“We have to quarantine them,” Zolf says softly, painfully, and he hates that those words have to make it into the open air.

Wilde sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose. “They weren’t infected last time.”

“Last time you saw them was a year and a half ago,” Zolf counters.

“I– just trust me, Zolf. Would I give up protocol if I wasn’t sure?”

* * *

The innkeeper rushes them into a room, and Hamid blinks at the faces that greet him. Wilde on one side, older and scarred and weary, and across from him— _“Zolf?”_

* * *

The innkeeper rushes them into a room, and sat at the table, sipping some sake— _“Zolf?”_

* * *

It’s the thirteenth time Oscar’s lived this cycle, and he’s tired. “Why aren’t we following protocol?” Grizzop hisses from beside him.

“They’ve never been infected,” Oscar says by rote, and in this version, he’s told Grizzop about the loop, it’s how he kept him from Rome, so the goblin grumbles wordlessly and taps his foot faster.

On cue, Hamid shrieks, _“Zolf?”_

Off script, a voice Wilde hasn’t heard in twenty-six years, “Boss?”

* * *

Grizzop asks, “Do you think we’ll get this ending?” and Wilde knows what he means.

It’s the day after they’ve saved the world, and when Wilde wakes up tomorrow morning, he’ll find Grizzop and a gnomish cleric leaning over him, looking concerned at the lack of effect the sleep spell had. It’s how life has been so far. But they’ve saved the world, _all of them,_ because Grizzop stayed with him and Sasha came back from Rome in Eldarion’s stead, because Wilde fought tooth and nail with every ounce of his being to keep his family safe. “I don’t know,” he answers honestly.

Zolf and Hamid and Sasha are curled together the closest, the three original members, one of Zolf’s legs strewn over Wilde’s waist. Azu and Cel are stretched across the pile, holding hands as they both snore softly, and Wilde is in the middle with his head pillowed on Grizzop’s stomach. “We’ve earned it,” Grizzop grumbles, and Wilde would swear that he was trying to guilt the gods into it with how petulant he sounds.

“We certainly have. Goodnight, Grizzop. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“You’d better.”

And for the first time in thirty-two years, Wilde sleeps the whole night through.

**Author's Note:**

> AND THEN HE WOKE UP IN THE CUDDLE PILE WITH HIS FOUND FAMILY AND NEARLY STARTED CRYING BECAUSE HE WAS STILL THERE AND EVERYONE BUT GRIZZOP WAS _SO CONFUSED_
> 
> also, uhhhh, not to self promo but i have a ko-fi now!! so if u like my works and wanna drop me a few dollars, it would be Much Appreciated!


End file.
